Hands On: Saru Battle

Ape Escape may not be Sony Computer Entertainment's most popular title, but there's no doubting the game's mascot status for the Japanese PlayStation 2. Ditching the platforming/puzzle styles of previous titles, the latest outing for the series' characters is a multiplayer battle game called Saru Battle ("Monkey Battle," or as we've coined it in English, "Ape Escape Battle").

Saru Battle consists of a number of battle games designed for play by up to four players simultaneously. Over fifty games are included, spanning a huge range, including racing, platform and arena-style games. For some games, the screen splits in four allowing each player to have his own view. Other games place all players on the same screen.

At the game's recent World Hobby Fair playable debut, we were able to try out a game in which players ride boats in a race to the finish line, a tank game in which players fight with tanks in an arena and a side-scrolling platform style game in which players must make precision jumps and collect coins while moving forward. Of the games we tried out, the most enjoyable was the simplest: our character and three others on foot in an arena, beating the crap out of each other.

Surprisngly, control changes only slightly depending on the game that you're playing. From what we could see, the left analogue thumb pad moves your character around with all actions being assigned to various movements of the right thumb pad. The right thumb pad is used in the battle arena game, for instance, to perform attacks; if you rotate the thumb pad around, your character does a more powerful spin attack. In the side scrolling platform-style game, you make your character jump by spinning the right thumb pad around and must keep on spinning it or your character will fall.

The many characters featured in the game are taken from the world of Ape Escape. This probably doesn't mean much to gamers in America, nor does it mean much to gamers in Japan, but Ape Escape has lots of recognizable characters including the series' main character Kakeru, his little girly friend Natsumi and the Professor. Hiroki and Specter will also join in on the fun, Sony Computer Entertainment revealed at the show.

Piposaru, the monkey that you always see associated with Ape Escape also, for the first time in an Ape Escape game, appears as a playable character. It's even possible to select the "Ape Team," which consists of a group of Piposaru characters working together. Piposaru and friends aren't alone, though, as this game introduces Pipotron, the evil battle monkey! Pipotron, in addition to being playable, takes an antagonist role is the Saru Battle story line.

The game lets you modify these characters in various ways. In addition to equipping them with new weapons like swords and sling shots, you can change clothing and hair style, giving Piposaru a big fro' if you like. Items for these modifications are earned by clearing stages, presumably in the game's single player mode.

Although this World Hobby Fair showing was the first we've seen of Saru Battle, the game is scheduled for Japanese release on July 1. With its fun, cell-shaded look and lots of variety through its many mini games, Saru Battle could end up being an awesome party game.

Be sure and check out the first videos of Saru Battle, straight from the floor of the World Hobby Fair in the video section for this story. Also, turn to IGN Insider later on in the day for a video tour of the World Hobby Fair, complete with the Ape Escape dance routine!